Miami Marlins sign Adam Greenberg to a one-day contract

September 27, 2012|By Juan C. Rodriguez, South Florida Sun Sentinel

ATLANTA — Sometimes life throws a curve. Sometimes it throws a 92-mph fastball that hits you in the head and puts you on your back.

Adam Greenberg got the latter, but it didn’t deter him from continuing his pursuit of a dream that ended less than second before it truly began. The Marlins are affording him the chance to achieve it -- again.

Thursday, the Marlins announced the signing of Greenberg to a one-day major league contract effective next Tuesday, the second-to-last day of the regular season.

On July 9, 2005, Greenberg’s big league career began and essentially ended on the first pitch he saw at Sun Life Stadium. Then a Cubs prospect, Greenberg pinch-hit against former Marlins reliever Valerio De Los Santos, who misfired a fastball that struck him on the back of the head.

“It knocked me down and I could have stayed there,” Greenberg said. “I had a choice. I could have said, ‘Poor me,’ and ‘This is horrible,’ but I chose to get up and get back in the box. That’s kind of the message to everyone. No matter what is going on in their own personal lives or anything, get back up, keep going. Good things do happen. Sometimes it takes seven years, but you know what, anything is possible and this just shows what’s possible.”

Greenberg, 31, developed vertigo and post-concussion symptoms that stalled his career. He last played on an affiliated baseball team in 2008. From 2009-’11, he was with the Bridgeport Bluefish of the independent Atlantic League.

Most recently, Greenberg was a member of the Israeli squad that competed in World Baseball Classic Qualifier in Jupiter earlier this month. Sunday, after Israel lost the championship game to Spain, a dejected Greenberg received a call from Marlins President David Samson with the contract offer.

Greenberg in part has filmmaker Matt Liston to thank. Liston earlier this year initiated the “One At Bat” campaign. He produced a You Tube video chronicling Greenberg’s story and started a petition to get Greenberg his first official major league at-bat. It has more than 22,000 signatures on change.org.

“This was never a gimmick,” said Greenberg, who in February received a call from Liston and green-lighted his project. “I got to the major leagues on my own merit and I worked through the ranks as a little kid and all the way up. I earned that spot seven years ago. The fact that this is not just my first at-bat, I think that’s important. It’s not just, ‘Poor kid, let’s give him a shot.’

“I’m no different or more special than anyone else. It just so happened my story was the Sunday Night Baseball game on ESPN and it was the first pitch I ever saw and I got hit in the back of my head. That’s a tragedy for me, but it’s part of the game.”

Greenberg has agreed to donate his one-day salary to the Marlins Foundation, which will then make a donation to the Sports Legacy Institute, an organization that advances the study, treatment and prevention of the effects of brain trauma in athletes and other at-risk groups.

If the Marlins have determined the logistics of Greenberg’s appearance Tuesday, they have not shared them with him yet. Greenberg was unsure whether he would be in the starting lineup against New York Mets knuckleballer and National League Cy Young frontrunner R.A. Dickey, or if he would pinch-hit later in the game.

It doesn’t matter to Greenberg.

“To experience what it feels like in a major league park and in a major league game, hearing my name announced, digging into the batters’ box,” Greenberg said. “That is truly what it’s about and I’m looking forward to that opportunity to show what I can do. It doesn’t matter if I get a hit or I don’t. It’s already been a success.”

In a statement, Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria said: “I’m extremely proud to extend this opportunity to Adam. He has earned this chance as his love and passion for the game never diminished, despite his career tragically being cut short. I look forward to seeing Adam step up to the plate and realizing his comeback dream next Tuesday night.”